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Lavender: In the Kill – K. Sterling
Sage Bradley wants to make the world a better place. He’s handsome, smart, wealthy, a talented artist and always follows his heart. Unfortunately, someone wants him dead. Fate brings a mysterious man to Sage’s door and a romantic night turns into a tangled web of passion and danger.
Sage Bradley, a serial do-gooder, has a hit on him. Lavender, top assassin, was sent to kill him but fortunately or unfortunately succumbed to his charms. They had a romantic night together but the morning after brings another assassin set to do what Lavender failed to do. Lavender shot the assassin and then he and Sage had to hide while Lavender tried to find out who set up Sage as a target.
True, the characters are too good to be true, slightly cutesy with improbable names. True, Lavender was wasting precious time doing the hanky panky with Sage rather than doing his job. True, I preferred Lavender to Jeremy but I could live with all of that and still have a good time with the book until 80% of the story when Sage started acting like a childish, hypocritical, spoil brat and being generally useless most of the time.
I am supposed to like Sage. I mean who can hate a pure-hearted, beautiful man who helps homeless children, knits bonnets for the elderly and gives a cat CPR? And I did like him at first then he started being helpless and useless and naive on top of not being able to accept Lavender for what he is despite Lavender doing all he could to keep Sage not only alive but happy. That was sooo annoying. It got to the point where I thought Reginald might have been a better match for Lavender. I think it kind of went downhill when Jeremy came into the picture.
Lavender is obviously my favorite character here. A high functioning sociopath who wears the sharpest suits around. Lovely! I didn’t like the part where he had to retire to be a better man for Sage. That’s like killing (no pun intended)
a part of himself. His new job was great but just be Lavender please!
I enjoyed Lavender and Chief West’s interaction and I want to see more of West and Aidan in the next books. To be a fly in the wall at their dinner double date!
If we remove all the boring exchange of body fluids, things do happened fast and the bonanza of dead bodies at the climax showed how truly bad-ass Lavender could be. I just wished he shot Sage too and end things like in Blood Stained Tea. But of course Sage got his Jeremy in the end and all is well until the next book.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: I Want to Protect You
Artist: Eels
Album: Useless Trinkets(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32812134-in-the-kill)
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REVIEW: Where Death Meets the Devil by L.J. Hayward
Death and the Devil: Where Death Meets the Devil – L.J. Hayward
Jack Reardon, former SAS soldier and current Australian Meta-State asset, has seen some messy battles. But “messy” takes on a whole new meaning when he finds himself tied to a chair in a torture shack, his cover blown wide open, all thanks to notorious killer-for-hire Ethan Blade.
Blade is everything Jack doesn’t believe in: remorseless, detached, lawless. Yet, Jack’s only chance to survive is to strike a bargain with the devil and join forces with Blade. As they trek across a hostile desert, Jack learns that Blade is much more than a dead-eyed killer—and harder to resist than he should be.
A year later, Jack is home and finally getting his life on track. Then Ethan Blade reappears and throws it all into chaos once more. It’s impossible to trust the assassin, especially when his presence casts doubts on Jack’s loyalty to his country, but Jack cannot ignore what Blade’s return means: the mess that brought them together is far from over, and Ethan might just bring back the piece of Jack’s soul he thought he’d lost forever.
This is how you do non-stop, over the top action!
This is how you take readers for a wild ride across the Australian desert!
This is how you go about a police procedural story!
This is how you write a government agent/assassin romance!
This is how you create a truly intriguing, genuinely bad-ass assassin!
This is how you build tension you can cut with knife!
This is how you keep readers at the edge of their seats!
This is how you plot twists and turns that catches the readers off guard!
This is how you produce a book made for movies!
I adore everything about Where Death Meets the Devil but for the love of everything queer and gay, please give us Ethan’s POV, L.J. Hayward!!!
P.S.
Death and the Devil: Where Death Meets the Devil: Coda – L.J. Hayward
Jack Reardon’s homecoming isn’t quite as peaceful as he hoped it would be …
Ten hours ago, Jack Reardon completed the messiest case of his career. Lucky to get through it with his life and a promotion, all he wants to do is catch up on missed sleep. Which won’t happen thanks to a bothersome house-invasion from assassin extraordinaire, Ethan Blade—who is also the reason he almost lost his life and job …
This Coda for “Where Death Meets the Devil” follows immediately after the ending of the novel and is best read afterwards as it does contain spoilers.
This is how you resolve it and leave things open for more Jack and Ethan to come.
Rating:
5 Stars – absolutely perfectSoundtrack: Black Heart
Artist: Stone Temple Pilots & Chester Bennington
Album: High Rise(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37647452-where-death-meets-the-devil)
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When one consorts with assassins, one must expect to dance along the edge of a knife once or twice.
R.L. LaFevers
